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PAT BURNS
Editor
Paul Bradwell
Sales Manager
Construction sector still
suffering – but things will
get better!
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The latest State of
Trade survey from the
Construction Employers
Federation and PwC
show that around a fifth
of Northern Ireland’s
construction companies
are operating at less
than half capacity,
with demand in GB
and the Republic of
Ireland (RoI) also down.
The EU Referendum is
thought to have created
uncertainty in the
economy but now that
is out of the way, many
construction companies
expect business to
improve later this year.
The latest CEF assessment for
the first three months (Q1)
of 2016 shows that close to a
quarter (22%) of companies
were operating in survival
mode, while the percentage of
companies confident of growth
and profitability fell slightly from
50% in Q1 2015 to 48% in Q1
2016.
The proportion of firms
reporting that their current
workload had increased rose
slightly to 33% in Q1 2016,
from 27.5% in Q1 2015 but
remained well below on the
first three months of 2014
when half of companies
surveyed reported increased
demand and workload.
Northern Ireland (almost
entirely Great Britain and RoI).
That fell to 17% in Q1 2015
and then again in Q1 2016,
when only 13% of work was in
GB and/or RoI markets.
The decline was largely driven
by a reduction in work in GB
– down from 15% in Q1 2014
to about 10% throughout 2015
and falling to 6% in Q1 2016,
the survey found.
Commenting on the survey
results CEF Managing Director
John Armstrong, said the
industry was not showing
any real signs of sustainable
recovery:
“This is another survey which
suggests that the construction
sector is not sharing in
Northern Ireland’s modest
economic recovery, let alone
the significant growth that is
being exhibited elsewhere in
the UK and Ireland.
“The proportion of companies
in survival mode is up, those
anticipating growth and
profitability are down and the
percentage of work in Great
Britain and Ireland has fallen.
We are operating in an
environment where growth
in housebuilding is broadly
flat and where output in
infrastructure and roads has
actually declined.
“The one glimmer of light
is that over a third of our
members say they expect
things to get better – I sincerely
hope they are right.
“Construction and
infrastructure accounts for
around 6% of UK GDP. But
it also delivers instant results
– direct employment, high
wages, indirect jobs, and greater
community cohesion. The new
Executive therefore needs
to work with the industry to
develop and deliver a significant
pipeline of projects which will
be crucial to the long term
sustainability and success of
the construction industry in
Northern Ireland.”
Two years ago, in Q1 2014,
almost a quarter of CEF
members’ work done was in
construction activity outside
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